Sky News apologises to Robert Murat over Madeleine McCann story

Sky News has apologised in the high court today and agreed to pay "substantial damages" to Robert Murat over a libellous web story and video about the Madeleine McCann disappearance that likened him to an infamous child murderer.

In a hearing in the high court in London Victoria Shore, counsel for Sky News, said the broadcaster unreservedly apologised for publishing "false allegations" about Murat, a British expatriate property consultant based in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

"My client very much regrets the distress these publications caused and in acknowledgement of that I confirm that the defendant has agreed to pay substantial damages to Mr Murat and also to pay his legal costs," Shore added.

Sky News, which is owned by BSkyB, is to also carry an apology on its website for 12 months. The story, headlined "Journalist reported man to the police", and accompanying video , titled "It reminded me of Soham", went up on the Sky News website within days of McCann's abduction in May 2007.

The video featured an interview with Lori Campbell, the Sunday Mirror journalist who reported Murat to the police, and remained on the site until September this year. The story was removed in April 2008.

Murat did not attend the high court today but his solicitor, Louis Charalambous from Simons Muirhead and Burton, said: "The article and video alleged that there were strong grounds for believing that Mr Murat was guilty of abducting Madeleine McCann. They claimed that, in these early days after the child's disappearance, Mr Murat's behaviour was reminiscent of notorious child murderer Ian Huntley. They also suggested that Mr Murat had deliberately tried to mislead journalists by pretending to be acting in an official capacity for the police."

Charalambous said Murat still lives in Praia da Luz. At the time of Madeleine McCann's disappearance, he had been living with his mother in a villa near the apartment complex where the McCanns were staying on holiday.

Charalambous said his client was, "like many other concerned local residents", involved in the initial search for the missing girl and had also agreed to assist the police as an interpreter.

Murat was given "aguido" or suspect status by the Portuguese police in the early days of the investigation into the McCann disappearance. However, this was formally lifted in July this year.

The media organisations included the Daily Express, Sunday Express and Daily Star, owned by Express Newspapers; Associated Newspapers' Daily Mail, London Evening Standard, and Metro; the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Scottish Daily Record, published by Mirror Group Newspapers; and News Group's Sun and News of the World.

In a high court hearing in July, the news organisations acknowledged that the stories they had run about Murat over nine months were entirely untrue, should never have been published and were unreservedly withdrawn.

In a statement read outside court, Charalambous said the settlement was the final piece of Murat's legal action against the UK media over coverage of McCann's disappearance.

"This settlement represents the final stage of Mr Murat's claims against those sections of the British media which defamed him so terribly," he added.

"He has been entirely successful and vindicated. It was particularly important to him to nail this particular lie – that he acted in some way reminiscent to the Soham murderer Ian Huntley when, in fact, he was working flat out to help try to find Madeleine."

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